Introduction
39 of them were women: Although different sources quote different numbers, the detail-oriented Vera Atkins, second in command to the head of the F Section, told SOE author Rita Kramer that 39 women trained by the SOE were sent into France.
Chapter 1: A Difficult Childhood
last male descendant of Sir Richard Witherington: M. R. D. Foot, preface to the unpublished English translation of Pauline.
Chapter 3: Escape from France
between six to eight million French: The Fall of France, 174.
Chapter 4: Training and Preparation in the Ranks of the SOE
Pearl, along with 14 others… (number of WAAFs in the SOE): The Heroines of the SOE, 13.
… plenty of intelligence …
… probably the best shot …
… sound knowledge of weapons …
… very capable …
All remarks from Pearl’s SOE instructors are taken from #42 of Pearl’s SOE files.
would give us some protection: According to the Geneva Conventions, a set of international rules regarding warfare established in 1929, and the Hague Convention of Land Warfare of 1907, an enemy combatant captured during a time of war was to be imprisoned humanely. But after France’s surrender to Germany, a state of war did not exist between those two countries and so anyone appearing to be a civilian caught fighting against the occupying force would be judged according to the country’s current laws, not according to the Geneva or Hague Conventions. Women were not even considered combatants so the SOE women were in great danger of being shot if captured.
Chapter 5: Parachuting into Occupied France
Maurice Southgate sent Henri: Behind Enemy Lines, 69.
Chapter 6: Courier Missions, Code Names, and Covers
Pearl’s courier worked overlapped: That the SOE had intended Pearl for both courier and liaison work before they sent her in can be found in her SOE files #31, #34.
Chapter 7: The Michelin Factory Affair
some of them begrudgingly: The Michelin family worked with the Germans somewhat begrudgingly—the head of the company was referred to by the German authorities as “the taciturn one”—and their wartime production output was far below that of their prewar output, possibly deliberately. Because of this—but more because certain members of the Michelin family were willing to support the Allied cause during the war (as Pearl notes in this chapter, a member of the Michelin family living in London told the RAF how to precisely bomb the factory)—the collaboration of the Michelin family was overlooked after the liberation. Les hommes du pneu: Les ouvriers Michelin a Clermont-Ferrand de 1940 a 1980 (Collection Movements Social) (French edition). For an English book covering similar material, see The Michelin Men: Driving an Empire by Herbert R. Lottman.
Chapter 8: Arrest of a Resistance Leader
Maurice Southgate had sent a note: Behind Enemy Lines, 94.
When he opened the door: Behind Enemy Lines, 94
a huge pile of cash: Paul McCue states the amount as one million francs (Behind Enemy Lines, 94).
He asked him if he could get us out of town: The circuitous and lengthy route taken by Pearl and Henri out of Montlucon and then back into the same area was designed to throw any possible pursuers off their track. Conversation with H. Larroque.
Chapter 9: The Battle of Les Souches
So the Germans kept the four women: The account of what happened inside the house with the four women was later written down by Yvonne Sebassier and provided to Pearl.
Chapter 10: Organizing the Maquis
Pearl’s image was placed on “wanted” posters: SOE in France, 335. M. R. D. Foot mentions that at this point, Pearl’s image was placed on multiple posters by the Germans offering a one-million-franc reward for her capture. No copy of this poster exists, nor is there any eyewitness description of its contents. Foot cites a 1946 book, Maquis S.S.4 by Michael Mockers, one of Peal’s subsector leaders, as his source for this information. However, Mockers only says it was a large reward, without stating the amount, and suggests that the posters were limited to Montlucon. Pearl never mentioned the posters to M. Larroque during their interviews, or in the detailed reports that she submitted to the SOE at the end of her service, and in 2007 she told another journalist that their existence was never proven. Despite all of this doubt, it is still generally believed that the reward posters did exist.
which she renamed Marie-Wrestler circuit: Why Pearl named her section of the Stationer network “Marie-Wrestler” is taken from her SOE files #25 and #29.
Pearl had expressed alarm: Pearl’s SOE file #34 reveals her alarm at liaising with a 1,000-man-strong Maquis group.
Pearl provided information … See Appendix titled “Radio Messages.”
we had about 500,000 francs: This was an enormous amount of money. To give an idea exactly how enormous, in 1944, the franc was worth about 90 cents. Average yearly wages in America at the same time would have been about $2,400; a typical house would have cost about $3,500, and a new car would have cost about $1,000 if you would have been able to purchase one. (The auto factories had stopped making new cars in order to produce war materials such as planes and tanks, so it would have been almost impossible to purchase a new car during the war.)
Chapter 11: Into the Forest
The captain called over to them: This incident shows how much control the Nazis exercised over their men. Even though the condemned captain was about to be killed, the German prisoners walking past still stopped, saluted him, and meekly accepted his verbal abuse. The Alsatian (from German-occupied Alsace) who had deserted, on the other hand, felt no such loyalty, was most likely fed up with the false moral superiority of the Nazi regime, and so had no trouble permanently silencing the haranguing German captain. Although what the captain was saying to the other Germans isn’t specifically mentioned, it’s very likely that he was criticizing their acceptance of prisoner status instead of insisting on execution like he had.
a column of 18,000 Germans: This was a diverse group of German survivors—Luftwafe, Marine, Heer—under the command of Colonel Eric Elster that started from the Bay of Biscay and moved northeast to try to get back to Germany.
a mission of the Gaullist regional military: Relations between the British government and General Charles de Gaulle were so strained that when he marched into Paris in August 1944, de Gaulle gave speeches that implied that France had liberated itself without any outside help. He was not even terribly polite to French Resistance leaders, especially the Communists—whom he saw as a dangerous political threat—and even less so to British SOE agents, most of whom he gave just 48 hours notice to get out of France.
Chapter 12: Postwar Life
Vera Atkins received authorization: Vera Atkins: A Life in Secrets, 212ff.
I jumped, I went into operation; I was going to wear them: If Pearl hadn’t received the parachute wings how could she have worn them? It wasn’t difficult to get hold of them in postwar France so apparently Pearl obtained some unofficial wings and wore them when the occasion called for it. But she was finally granted official parachute wings by a senior RAF parachute instructor in 2006.
Also not mentioned in the narrative, because it occurred after the Larroque interviews, was that Pearl was awarded with the CBE—Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire—in 2004 by Queen Elizabeth.
We’ve lost everything: Henri described his immediate postwar employment during an interview with Hervé Larroque (not included in this book) as “the winding up of American surplus stocks, medical and surgical equipment.” Henri went on to say that “one of my friends, Jacques Bureau, found me the job. He was in charge of winding up this unit. I remained there until the business closed down; it fizzled out gradually when all the stocks were liquidated. There were only three of us left [at the end].” Since this was obviously going to be temporary employment, in a way it seems odd that Henri would be surprised that his work there had suddenly “gone bust,” as Pearl describes it (unless it fizzled out much quicker than he had originally been led to believe). It is possible that this was instead referring to his parents’ beauty salon (where Henri had worked from 1926 to 1930) or the cleaning-product business he started in 1938 (see page 133), but as Pearl and Henri did not provide enough specific information in their interviews about the postwar running of these businesses, this is pure speculation.
One of the biggest mysteries: Although there is no doubt that Déricourt was directly responsible for the arrest (and subsequent death) of many agents of the Prosper network, despite having been brought to trial several times he always went free. It is believed by many people that someone in the British government, higher than the SOE, kept him from justice because he knew too much. For more on Déricourt, see the following: Flames in the Field, 210-22; Vera Atkins: A Life in Secrets, 356-64; SOE in France, throughout but especially 259-67; and Déricourt: The Chequered Spy.